Are you upgrading to Windows 8?

Windows 8 is out next week, does it offer anything worth having for the digital photographer? It seems to me to be all about the touch screen interface......wont this require a special monitor and new individual software to support it? As I've only just bought a Windows 7 PC, I have the option of upgrading to 8 Pro for £15, just interested to know if it's worth doing? My previous experience of such things, is that it's better to have the last of the old than the first of the new!

From all the tablet laptops we saw in the weeks before and from trying the OS itself I think it is safe to say that windows 8 is a very touch screen based OS. Also, I heard that not all of windows 7 applications will be compatible due to something they had to do to make it compatible with ARM architecture I think. I dont think there will be any special features on windows 8 which will requires photographers to get it.

captainelmo said:
From all the tablet laptops we saw in the weeks before and from trying the OS itself I think it is safe to say that windows 8 is a very touch screen based OS. Also, I heard that not all of windows 7 applications will be compatible due to something they had to do to make it compatible with ARM architecture I think. I dont think there will be any special features on windows 8 which will requires photographers to get it.

I read that Microsoft were stopping development of digital imagery programs (which is a shame because they were just getting good at it), but this makes me worry about the usefulness of Windows 8 to photographers. I suppose we'll know more soon but although I have three PC's as I write this, my next PC may be a Mac...

spraynpray said:
I read that Microsoft were stopping development of digital imagery programs (which is a shame because they were just getting good at it), but this makes me worry about the usefulness of Windows 8 to photographers. I suppose we'll know more soon but although I have three PC's as I write this, my next PC may be a Mac...

I found paint more of a play tool. I used to use it to make doodles and use it in animations. Generally if I want to edit anything I use Picasa. I find it quick and the tools there quite useful. Honestly I do not get whats so good about macs which makes photographers go all googoo gaga over it. My friend has a mac and a PC and he was telling me there was no point to his mac before he got aperture but he saw Gimp which I had and told me that you are not gaining much with aperture and lightroom and photoshop are also available on PC. Speaking of which, wonder what adobe will do to make photoshop and lightroom windows 8 friendly if they do at all.

captainelmo said:
I found paint more of a play tool. I used to use it to make doodles and use it in animations. Generally if I want to edit anything I use Picasa. I find it quick and the tools there quite useful. Honestly I do not get whats so good about macs which makes photographers go all googoo gaga over it. My friend has a mac and a PC and he was telling me there was no point to his mac before he got aperture but he saw Gimp which I had and told me that you are not gaining much with aperture and lightroom and photoshop are also available on PC. Speaking of which, wonder what adobe will do to make photoshop and lightroom windows 8 friendly if they do at all.

I agree about paint, in fact I had completely forgotten about it. I was referring to ICE. Microsoft are well positioned to do well in digital image editing, I don't know why they gave up.

A lot of people in my club use Macs and they do seem consistently much quicker than our PC's but more expensive. Whether running windows or Mac programs they are quicker.

I've been using an evaluation copy of Win 8 for a few months. SO far, it has run everything that I've tried on it - both programs and peripherals (five different printers). I find the screen navigation (like trying to go to COntrol Panel) a bit of a pain, and sometimes the surser in the corner navigation does not work. Hopefully, the RTM version has fixed the little glitches.

warprints said:
I've been using an evaluation copy of Win 8 for a few months. SO far, it has run everything that I've tried on it - both programs and peripherals (five different printers). I find the screen navigation (like trying to go to COntrol Panel) a bit of a pain, and sometimes the surser in the corner navigation does not work. Hopefully, the RTM version has fixed the little glitches.

How do you find the metro interface? I think its only good for a touch screen but I think you should be able to choose what type you want. Windows 8 is supposedly much faster than windows 7 because of its mobile platform requirements. I sincerely hope this does not turn into another windows vista.

One of my secretaries is using the Win 8 machine, she's young, and she likes it. For me, it's mostly window dressing. (Whoops - LOL, no pun intended.) You can go to the older fashioned desktop very easily (although you don't get all the functionality of the old desktop). Bottom line - I'm more of a function first type, while the UI seems to be more of a design thing. (However, if you don't utilize a lot of different programs, or you don't get into the guts of your software and OS very much, the UI is convenient.)

I very definitely will NOT be "upgrading" to Win 8; I bought my fiancee' a new 17" Dell laptop about a year ago, just as Win7 came out; she (thought) she needed a new laptop to drag around when she flies; As we have both been using nothing but Macs for the last 8 or 9 years, we were neither one "impressed" with Win7; the thing mainly sat around, collecting dust. Not long after I got her the PC, Amazon came out with the Kindle Fire;

As we were returning from a trip to Chicago, I got off the Interstate at Champaign, Ill. thinking to buy a new keyboard for my old iMac. ( Spilled coffee on the old one, and Mac keyboards do NOT LIKE coffee !) While I was in the Best Buy buying the keyboard, they had just received the first batch of Kindle Fires; I ended up buying her one. Little did I realize at the time, just what all this little thingie is capable of ! Since that day, just at (or after) Thanksgiving a year ago, she has.....A. never touched the Dell Laptop (with Win7) since she got the Kindle B. she has used the Kindle on every trip (and she takes a lot of trips) to send and receive all emails while she is traveling C. has read over 4 dozen books books on the Kindle D. keeps up with her daily Facebook "activities" with the Kindle while traveling E. has used the Kindle to search Southwest Airline's web site for flights with available seats, ( as she flies non-rev/ standby, so must find flights with seats available E. and has used the dinky little Kindle for everything that she normally needs a computer for while she is away from home.

(The dust on the Dell PC is getting pretty thick by now!) Seriously, after using OS X in all of it's many "iterations" for the past 10 or 11 years now, I find it "mystifying" as to why anyone is still using ANY Windows OS any more. ( For that matter, why is anyone still dragging around a big old laptop when you can do everything on a Kindle Fire that you can carry in a small purse !? )

To a large extent I agree with you Gitzo. Since buying a MK 3 iPad in April, I find myself turning on my PC less and less. I find it does 90% of the regular daily tasks that I would use my PC for, however how do you edit several hundred NEF files in photoshop on a Kindle? I think desktops still have a place for more specialised work, (although I do find the iPhoto app very clever for editting a few shots on the move).

I have an iPad3 and a Transformer tf300 and both are toys and virtually useless for me. I travel a lot and give lots of science and business presentations as well as I'm constantly working on grants, FDA documents, etc. - I need access to MS office and other programs, not [just] Netflix and Angry Birds when I travel. I know there are hordes of people just like me that still carry around heavy laptops for this reason and are waiting for a serious tablet to enter the market. It looks like the new MS and Lenovo tablets running W8 may finally offer professionals this option. I am buying both and will see how they work. I don't mind if they are nto as powerful as a desk top (ATOM processors!) or high end laptop, but as long as I can get serious work done on them, they may be my travel solution.

At home, I use a Wacom tablet and find that once I pick up the pen I don't want to put it down. If I can use the Wacom with the W8 UI, I will be a happy camper.

If you don;t agree, fine, but know that this is the future. Steve Jobs (RIP) and BIll Gates agreed on this point - the PC is dead.

I was about to get an i Mac but don't like Apple telling me what programs i can use

I just bought a new 27 inch iMac with 12 GB of RAM; The thing is awesome ! (and Apple has not told me anything about what programs I can use. I will say this though........I was running Jaguar on my old 20 inch before it died (after 8 years of wonderful service) The new iMac has Lion, which has about a hundred things that I.......A. have no idea what they are all "about" B. have absolutely no use for, and C. never use, so I wish the thing "worked" just like the old machine.

Now, if only I had access to a phone line that WORKS, and could get DSL internet service, instead of having to rely on "pokey" satellite service from Wild Blue ! ( UGHHH ! )

Just the price we have to pay for living "out in the boondocks" I guess........

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can "read the riot act" to the damned phone company and get them to get my phone line working again, ( after a year of no "land line" service ), then get them to extend DSL service to "out here" in the "boonies" ?

Gitzo said:
I just bought a new 27 inch iMac with 12 GB of RAM; The thing is awesome ! (and Apple has not told me anything about what programs I can use).

I know it's not a program, but ask your local Apple store to ship your iMac with a blueray player installed so you can enjoy your collection on that wonderful display, and see what they say! Apparently because they feel streaming movies is the future (unless like you, you can't do that), they deprive you of the choice. It's a bit like saying the future of world travel is molecular beaming, therefor we should scrap planes now!

SkintBrit said:
I know it's not a program, but ask your local Apple store to ship your iMac with a blueray player installed so you can enjoy your collection on that wonderful display, and see what they say! Apparently because they feel streaming movies is the future (unless like you, you can't do that), they deprive you of the choice. It's a bit like saying the future of world travel is molecular beaming, therefor we should scrap planes now!

Most 3rd party Blu-ray readers/writers work just fine on the Mac. That's what USB is for...

I'm going to stick with Windows 7. I cannot think of one compelling reason to upgrade to an OS with an interface designed for tablets.

SkintBrit said:
I know it's not a program, but ask your local Apple store to ship your iMac with a blueray player installed so you can enjoy your collection on that wonderful display, and see what they say! Apparently because they feel streaming movies is the future (unless like you, you can't do that), they deprive you of the choice. It's a bit like saying the future of world travel is molecular beaming, therefor we should scrap planes now!

I can only think of one person I know who got a Blu-ray player. Face the facts, physical media is a dying bread and move on with your life.

This thread is meant to be to do with windows 8, so I thought about not replying to the comments made by ironheart & PB PM, (yes I know I started it lol), but I just wanted to clear something up. I actually agree with Apple. I don't think there will be any reason to have a shelf full of physical media in the future, BUT as Gitzo has mentioned, streaming your data from the cloud involves being able to access a decent broadband connection, what good is your cloud collection of movies/data, if you don't have one? Most do, but not everyone. Gitzo's only option is to have a copy of the media himself (blueray), and although ironheart is correct, you can just plug in an external one if you'd like, I feel that's hardly the point when you've just spent a fortune on an incredibly beautiful all in one piece of machinery. Assuming (and it is an assumption) that it would not cause Apple to have to design the internal components of the iMac differently to accommodate the few (I wonder how many?) who would want such players, why not give customers the choice? A cynic might say because bluerays earn them no money?

As some of you have seen my other posts I have to get a PC for my D800 - I put it off for 5 years so it is time, and I have been researching Win 8 like crazy to see if I want it or not. Here is just some stuff I have found

1. (In general) Microsoft creates OSs that utilize hardware that will be released for the next 4 years - when it first comes out, do not think that a $1,500 machine will run them well. If you spend $2,000 or after about a year, then it will run well with it. My rule of thumb for Microsoft is take the bare stated min requirements, multiply it by 3 and that is the machine you should use with it.

2. There are two categories of Win 8 - One for PCs and One for Tablets. Look and feel the same but are very different. Don't confuse the two.

3. Boot up times are under 1 min.

4. The new architecture will help make graphics (photo/Video) programs work faster. Mostly dependent on your hardware but there is an increase.

5. You can NOT turn off the "win 8" surface feature.

6. Some developers (mainly for Games) have yelled mostly due to MS closing coding holes and pushing developers to sell their games in their store. Frankly, none of it has to do with end-users. Actually MS is going to start forcing developers to make it easier for end users. Cyber nerds curse - and the "just let me use the damn thing" users will rejoice.

Otherwise it will run just as good as Win 7. Personally I think I will be staying with Win 7 out of convenience of knowing how to use it and for some of the "off" programs that I use. New MS OSs are generally a bit bumpy for the first 6 months, so that is another reason for me to skip it.

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Apple and Blu-ray: I have heard two things on that - 1. They eat battery life and cause more hardware config issues than you would think. It's also $200 that would be added to a price that is a bit high to begin with. 2. No blu-ray was one of S. Jobs's last nixed items. He didn't want BR to force people off of hard media. 3. One of the updates was not compatible with Blu-rays and they dropped them for a short time, when no one really complained, they just stopped using them. I'm not sure why they don't offer them as options, I think it is shortsighted. Customizers of Macs (Companies that you send your new MAC to have them optimize it, still offer them last I looked. There are too many design features of Macs that make me feel like I'm running into a brick wall when I use them, that I just ignore them. PC users know what I'm saying, Mac users are usually lost in that statement. Outside of the mystic of a "mac" there really isn't any compelling difference between the two. Just a user choice.

Kind of a meh thing there. That is nothing inherent with Windows 8 that makes it boot faster. A machine running XP, Vista, Windows 7 or Mac OS can start in less than 30 seconds with a good hard drive or 15 seconds with an SSD.

PB PM said:
Kind of a meh thing there. That is nothing inherent with Windows 8 that makes it boot faster. A machine running XP, Vista, Windows 7 or Mac OS can start in less than 30 seconds with a good hard drive or 15 seconds with an SSD.

Plus 1. Yes my new 7 machine takes about 30 seconds to boot up.

TaoTeJared said:
New MS OSs are generally a bit bumpy for the first 6 months, so that is another reason for me to skip.

As I have till next year to take MS up on their upgrade offer, I think I'll wait and see for that reason.